Stranger Things
by yamikinoko
Summary: .Jinta x Yuzu. There's no such thing as overprotective parents; what're you talking about? Companion fic to Reversal.


**Stranger Things**

The Kurosaki family is known to be rather strange. This has been a fact of common knowledge since the father arrived at an elementary school Easter party wearing a full bunny suit. To add to the oddity of things, Kurosaki Isshin then proceeded to seize his youngest daughter and cavort around the room (pirouettes and all), only stopping when Kurosaki Karin tripped him (with a perfect lack of concern) and walked across him.

Without a downwards glance.

Some of the kinder parents attributed their antics to the tragic, recent loss of their wife and mother. The others simply thought them insane.

There is perhaps one exception to their madness: Kurosaki Yuzu, as sweet and unassuming a child as one could ever hope to meet. It is apparent that Yuzu is the one child who takes the most after her mother, with shining golden hair and a cherubic, angelic expression constantly adorning her features.

It certainly is a pity her father is so _strange_. The poor child. No doubt to be influenced by such an _odd_ family.

* * *

Every since she was little, Yuzu can remember her older brother, Ichigo, complaining about seeing ghosts as well as his infrequent conversations with an unseen pest. Yuzu herself can't see these supposed entities the way Ichigo can, nor does she need to pretend she can't see them the way Karin does.

Sometimes though, she gets a sense of something there, something prickling the hairs on the back of her neck or sending a shiver down her spine, something that probably isn't Daddy's caterwauling in the shower.

Every time she turns to look though, there is nothing there, which is understandable, but it doesn't change the fact that it's just plain _weird_.

Sometimes, she gets scared, thinking about things that she can't see but might be there, the what-ifs trailing through her mind like an endless string of unpleasant chills.

Then she thinks of Ichigo and Daddy – silly Daddy – and their promises to her – loud and bold, just like them – she can smile again.

Yuzu never knows fear very intimately. Big Brother and Daddy don't approve of him.

* * *

It is said that the high school principal nearly cried when he discovered _two_ Kurosakis were to attend his school in the fall.

It is also said that several first-year teachers lit sticks of incense in the staff room to pray for divine providence.

In truth, they needn't have feared. Both were outstanding students – unlike him – and both were extremely well-behaved—unlike him. In Yuzu they found a responsible class rep – unlike him – and in Karin, a spitfire soccer player, for all her athletic prowess avoiding delinquent practices—unlike him.

Both _quite_ unlike _him_.

When the principal dissolves into tears of relief during freshman orientation, Yuzu begins to wonder exactly what Ichigo had done to the school staff.

It probably wasn't pretty.

* * *

Yuzu often wondered what Daddy did when his daughters were at school. Of course he has a job – maybe – but he is always first to welcome them home at school's finish.

She gets her version of an answer when the first boy who asks her out doesn't appear at school the next day. Or the one after. For that matter, he's absent for the rest of the week and when he gets back to school, he can no longer look her in the eye without jumping.

She thinks Karin knows, but Karin's not telling, and she's not quite sure she wants to ask. Daddy can give running faucets a run for their money sometimes.

The next time – and several times after – something like this happens, Ichigo is back from college (though she suspects that wherever he goes isn't college) and she finds him whispering – scheming, probably – with Daddy after dinner.

She observes that at the rate they're going, she's never going to get a boyfriend, much less get married.

Daddy says _good_, Big Brother not a beat behind.

* * *

Once at a soccer game, watching the team swarm around Karin, Yuzu wondered why Daddy doesn't do the same for his other "precious daughter". She wondered for all of two seconds.

Karin is interested in two things: soccer and her family (though it would be like pulling teeth to get her to admit the latter). Even when she adds a third thing to that list, Yuzu notices that even Daddy grudgingly accepts. After all, if Karin's proved anything, it's that she can take care of herself. Sometimes though, it's a fact that Daddy doesn't seem to understand (or remember).

_I'll kill that little shrimp if he so much as touches my baby girl_, he declares and, when Karin inevitably kicks him in the shin, dissolves into tears with much re-promising to hold up his end of their agreement.

Yuzu can gather that Karin did some arm-twisting (maybe even literally) to get her way. It gives her an idea.

* * *

Yuzu meets him one night walking home from school and he is holding a ridiculously large baseball bat, practicing his swings as he strolled along. He is notably short-tempered when she asks him about it, but she goes home that night with his name and a smile on her face.

_Jinta_.

(Daddy was, of course, suspicious.)

She sees him again the week after, around the same time, around the same place.

This time, he is the one who goes home with a name, and a scowl less pronounced than when it had first formed.

Yuzu remembers that he does a double-take when he learns her last name, then mutters – maybe wails – something along the lines of "Oh my God, I'm dead."

She doesn't see him for two days after that (she suspects it has something to do with the two belligerents that live with her but there are, of course, several less likely possibilities).

On the third day, Yuzu wakes up to daisies on her windowsill the likes of which aren't found in winter, small and dainty with perfect, velveteen petals.

(He would come to tell her – with a sideways glance and embarrassed mutter – that they were simply pretty, just like her.)

She meets him later that day, in that street where they began—everything.

* * *

_This is dishonest_, she insists, _I don't like dishonesty_.

_This is survival_, he retorts, and much as she'd like to point out that what they're doing is really hiding (and not being truthful) she can't find it in herself to disagree with him either.

When she finally convinces him to come meet Daddy in person, it is with much grumbling and dragging of feet that he follows her home.

Yuzu can't help but think it is the miracle of the century that he is somewhat persuaded Daddy won't tear him apart on the spot.

She herself isn't so sure.

* * *

Daddy stares, Daddy glares, Daddy yells and makes threatening gestures with his hands.

Karin throws a heavy book at him, saying he's too loud (her aim is surprisingly accurate).

Daddy picks himself off of the floor, and he says that he's going to kill "both those little shrimps."

It takes an hour before Daddy calms down – first the yelling, then the wailing – enough to talk, and another two before Jinta stops inching towards the door (she has to reach out sometimes and make sure he _sits_).

They finally reach a settlement that is acceptable to both parties – only Daddy, actually – and though Yuzu knows that Jinta doesn't like everything (anything), she knows that he's secretly checking everything he owns and giving thanks that everything is still attached. (Daddy is scary sometimes.)

So everything seems to be okay, really.

* * *

The Kurosaki family has always been known to be rather strange, quite like their father. Especially their father.

There begin to appear whispers of sympathy for the poor, sweet girl who must endure the intrusive yells of her father less than a block away during a date.

(Likewise, there are murmurs of encouragement to the dark-haired, pale-faced youth accompanying her. He looks ready to bolt at any second.)

Yuzu knows that it's not normal to have to explain to people that Jinta is the first boy that she – and Daddy – have ever gone on a date with (and nobody needs to be told exactly what is wrong with that statement), but given her family, it's okay.

Stranger things have happened. Stranger things will happen.

It was all okay with her.


End file.
